There are more things between Heaven and Earth
by steffiundaxel
Summary: Shape shifters? When the Heroes receive the mission to rescue a family, they can't believe what they are seeing. Only one man seem to know what is going on...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Hogan's Heroes, they belong to CBS and Bing Crosby Productions. No profit is being made by this story. The Original Characters belong to me.

A/N: This is my first fanfic and I am not a native English speaker, so please point out any mistakes I made.

Chapter 1

_Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1943_

„We have your family, Antero", said the voice on the other end of the telephone line threatening, „if you want to see them alive again, come to the city of Hammelburg near Düsseldorf, Germany."

„Who are you? What do you want? What have you done with my family?" screamed Leander Antero into the receiver.

„All in good time. They are in safety, yet. We know who you are. What you are. Check in Hammelburg into the hotel „Hausnerhof", there you will receive further instructions. If you don't come or don't do as we say, your wife and daughters will pay the price."

The line clicked as the caller hung up the phone. Leander stood there dazed for a moment, then he stormed out the door of his office in the hospital where he was working as a doctor (or rather as a healer, because he treated wounds and illnesses with natural medicine instead of tablets) and ran at full speed to the little house at the outskirts of the environmental protection area Santa Teresa.* His wife loved to live near the trees instead amidst the buildings of Rio de Janeiro and he needed the privacy of the forest to be able to let his wolf run freely. When he arrived he saw that the door was unlocked, the interior was destroyed and his family was gone. The wolf inside him growled and rage filled the man. He would go to Germany and find the people who have dared to lay hands on his wife and children. They should have never kidnapped them. A shapeshifter protects his family.

*Santa Teresa was declared an environmental protection zone in 1984, I changed history a bit for this story.

_A/N: I want to that Glossina for encouraging me to give it a tr_y _and become a writer. That is the result. _

_P.S. The Heroes will make their appearance in the next chapter, so don't worry._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

He had called his friends for help. They were a ragtag group but his best friends from the time when he still lived in the jungle. Tomás, a healer and wolf, the jaguar twins Raúl and Ramon and the leopard Javier. When he got a job at the 'Hospital Copa D'Or' in 1921, he and his wife Marisa had moved to Rio de Janeiro. He never lost contact with them and every year he and his family spent their holidays in the jungle. They came immediately to the city after they heard what's happened.

#####

Before the arrival of his friends he called the one person who he hoped could help them get to Germany – the current President of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Leanders thoughts wandered back to the time when he first met the man. It was in 1920 at the end of his last year at the medical school in New York. He and his friend Joseph Wilson went to the campaign rally of the Republican candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had gone out of the building where the campaign was taking place into a dark alley to shift and run for a while in the near park. When he returned to the alley and shifted back to human form, he suddenly heard a gasp behind him. There stood a man who had seen him change form from wolf to man. "Roosevelt was a very secretive man himself and an aspiring politician" he thought. "He understood the need for secrecy after I explained to him who and what I am. I couldn't deny what he saw, could I? We made a bargain that I would offer my help should he need me as a healer - or a shapeshifter. His side of the deal was to keep my secret to himself." Then Roosevelt surprised him when he said that the help offer would go both ways. "I think he realized that someday a shapeshifter would be a valuable ally."

At first the phone call to the White House didn't go well, as they wouldn't put through his call to the President himself. He needed several minutes to convince the switchboard operator that she should tell the Secret Service or the President's secretary his name so that they could ask the man if he would take the call. Five minutes later he was talking to the President. Fortunately, Roosevelt remembered him. "I told him everything about the kidnapping of my family and that we would need help in Germany. Javier, Tomás and I speak the language, but neither one of us had ever been there." The President made good on his promise from so many years ago. The five of them would be on the next Airmail plane from Rio to London, which would start the following day. Roosevelt also made arrangements with British Intelligence so that in London a plane would be waiting to pick them up and bring them to a field near Hammelburg. There they would meet their contact, code name Papa Bear.

#####

Kinch was down in the tunnel at the radio table reading a book when an urgent message arrived.

"Mama Bear calling Papa Bear, Mama Bear calling Papa Bear, come in Papa Bear!"

"Here Papa Bear, read you loud and clear." answered Kinch.

"We have an important mission for you chaps. A brazilian family has been kidnapped and brought to Germany. The mother and two daughters, age 4 and 6. The father will arrive tomorrow with four companions by plane at point M14. This family is special an we believe that there is a traitor in the White House who has somehow learned about them and then sold his knowledge to an unknown person in Hammelburg. The father received a phone call hinting that his wife and children are being held in or near the city. Your job is to locate where they are, destroy all evidence that they have ever been there and help the brazilian team with the rescue as much as needed."

"What is so special about them?"

"We can't tell you, it is top secret. There is a possibility that your contact may tell you, but don't count on it. Your contact's code name is 'White Wolf', recognition code as follows:

"Do you know the way to Düsseldorf?"

He has to answer: "The wolf is crazy".

"Understood, London. Message received. Papa Bear out."

Kinch wrote down all the information and made his way up to the barracks to give the slip of paper with their newest mission to Colonel Hogan. A kidnapping in Brazil leads to a hopefully successful rescue in Germany. "What a crazy war", he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_meanwhile, in a house near Hammelburg_

The phone was ringing. "Doctor Schmidt speaking. Heil Hitler!"

"Doctor Schmidt, I have what you wanted," said a voice. "The woman and children will be delivered to you in the next 24 hours. Make sure that you have the money ready, in cash. Remember, one million Reichsmark. The transfer location is the abandoned farm near the Hammelburg road." With these words, the caller hung up the phone.

_Finally! _Thought Doctor Schmidt. _Finally I get this damn Antero in my fingers. When I have his family, he will come to save them. Then I will capture him and prove that shape shifters are real, once and for all! And than nobody will laugh at me anymore!_ His evil laughter filled the room.

#####

"Hammelburg, Hammelburg, why did that name sound so familiar?" mused Tomás while they were on their way to the airport. "Now I know where I heard that name before!" he exclaimed suddenly, "Leander, didn't you tell me that your American friend, Joseph Wilson, is a POW in a German camp located near Hammelburg? Do you think he could be our contact?"

"I don't think so, Tomás. Joseph is a medic, not a spy. From what Roosevelt told me, this Papa Bear is the leader of an underground organization with many contacts and resources. He has experience leading an international team and going on dangerous missions. Joseph is a medic at heart, even if he is forced to be a soldier in this war. Leading a spy organization means potentially killing the enemy, and he is trying to save lives, not take them."

The other three just listened to the conversation as they had never met this Wilson before.

Apparently, Leander knew him from his time in med school in New York, where he had studied conventional medicine.

"When will we be in London?" asked Raúl.

Leander answered, "The flight will take about 16 hours, so I suggest that we all try to sleep on the plane. We will need our strength when we arrive in Germany."

With that, they boarded the plane, and the thoughts of the five men wandered to the upcoming mission and the missing family members they were determined to rescue.

#####

When Kinch came up from the tunnels, he went straight through the empty barracks to the colonel's quarters. The other members of the team were sitting at the common room table playing cards. After two weeks without something to do, they were bored.

"Hey Kinch, do we have a new mission?" called Peter Newkirk.

"Yes but I need to speak with the colonel first." answered Kinch.

"Hey, I wonder what it is. Maybe an ammo dump to blow up? Or a bridge?" asked Carter excitedly. He loved explosions, and any mission where they had to blow up anything was a good mission for him.

"Wait till the Colonel tells us." Newkirk shook his head at the enthusiasm of the young demolitions expert.

Kinch knocked on the door of the colonel's quarters.

"Come in," called Hogan.

Kinch entered and said, "Colonel Hogan, we have a new assignment from London." He gave him the blue paper slip and waited while the man in front of him read it.

"What do they mean 'Help as much as needed'? Who is this family and why are they so special? Did London tell you anything else?" exclaimed Colonel Hogan.

"No, Colonel. They just said that we have to work together with the father and his team and it's all top secret," said Kinch apologetically.

"Okay. Let's see if these men are willing to tell us more about this whole affair." Hogan went to the door and called for the guys to come into his office.

"Men, listen. We have a new mission and it won't be an easy one." The gathered men listened aintently to what he had to say. "Apparently, there is a family from Brazil, e wife and two small girls, who have been kidnapped and brought to Germany. London wants us to find them, help with their liberation and destroy all evidence we can find. The second thing is that the husband will arrive tonight with four other men at point M14. I don't know when, so Carter and Newkirk, you two will go out after lights out and wait for the plane. Signal as usual. Make sure that you are back in time for morning roll call. LeBeau, I want you to prepare something to eat for them. They will be hungry after the long flight. Kinch, contact the Underground, see if they observed anything unusual or suspicious around Hammelburg. Besides that, this mission is top secret, so we have to be very careful what we do and who we talk to. Any questions?" They all shook their heads and went to accomplish their tasks.

#####

_23:00, point M14_

"Hey Newkirk, when do you think the plane will arrive?" asked Carter, who crouched besides him in the undergrowth near the landing field.

"I don't know, but if you talk a little louder a patrol will hear us and we will never find out!" grumbled Newkirk. Just then, they could hear the distant sound of an engine.

"There it is. Give the signal Carter!"

Carter flashed three times, and after a short pause, two times more with his flashlight. The plane send the answering signal and five figures exited it by parachute. After they landed, Newkirk and Carter approached them.

"Do you know the way to Düsseldorf?" asked Newkirk.

"The wolf is crazy," answered the man in front of him. "Are you Papa Bear?"

"No, but we will bring you to him. I'm Corporal Peter Newkirk. This is Sergeant Andrew Carter." He pointed to Carter.

"I am White Wolf," answered Leander. "These are my friend, but I think introductions can wait until we are at a more safer place." Suddenly, he stiffened and said in a whisper, "Someone is coming!"

Carter had quietly observed the newcomers during this short episode. There was something odd about them; he just couldn't place his finger on it. His natural curiosity was peaked, and he was determined to find out what it was that seemed so different. But now they had to get back to camp without getting caught. Newkirk led the group to their secret entrance in the tree stump, while Carter brought up the rear.

Once they had descended the ladder in the tunnel, Colonel Hogan came up to greet the men.

"I am Colonel Hogan. Welcome to Stalag 13."

"I am Leander Antero and these are Tomás Alvarez, Raúl and Ramon Mendez and Javier Santos." He pointed to each men. "Are you Papa Bear?" he asked.

"Yes I am. And you must be Whit Wolf." the colonel said. Leander just nodded. Then Colonel Hogan introduced his team. "You already know Sergeant Carter and Corporal Newkirk. This is Sergeant James Kinchloe and Corporal Louis LeBeau."

The men eyed each other curiously and a bit warily. The Brazilians had an air of wildness around them, which made Hogan's team feel a bit uncomfortable.

The unpleasant moment continued when Colonel Hogan said, "London told us that your family has been kidnapped in Brazil. Why were they brought to Germany, of all places? And why are you here with a team of your own? Please don't misunderstand me, I would have done the same had it been my family, but my team and I could have handled this situation perfectly well alone. We have plenty of experience making people disappear from secured locations and shipping them off to England. So why did you come here?" He spoke in a slightly distrusting tone.

Leander exchanged a glance with his friends before answering, "Colonel Hogan, I understand that you don't trust us. All I can say is that we have something that these kidnappers want, but I can't tell you what it is yet. Someone called me to tell me that they had my family brought here and that I have to check-in in the Hotel Hauserhof, which I will do tomorrow morning."

"Tomás, Raúl, Ramon and Javier will stay here. Nobody knows that they are with me, and I want to keep it that way in case someone is observing the hotel; what they will certainly do to confirm my arrival. We are here because a friend of mine arranged it for us. He told me that you are an experienced leader of both a team of mixed nationalities and an underground unit. So we need your help because we don't know exactly where my family is being held, or who is behind all this."

While the Heroes were listening to Leander's speech, Carter used that time to assess the visitors. This Antero seemed like a man with a strong will and determination, and from the looks of his men he was regarded as their leader. _He is a natural leader like Colonel Hogan,_ he thought. With his height of 1.85 meters, the long blond hair that hung down his back in a braid and eyes the color of light amber, he was hard to miss in a crowd. The others where not so conspicuous in looks, but they too would also not be regarded as natural German citizens when it was time to send them back home. Except for Tomás. He was blond like Leander but his hair was cut short above his blue eyes. He looked like the model Aryan. The twins had black hair that reached their shoulders, dark green eyes and brown skin. The last one, the one who was introduced as Javier, had short brown hair, dark eyes and skin a shade lighter than the twins. They all didn't look threatening, but you could tell that they were not to be trifled with when angry.

"Ok, we will leave it at that for now. Kinch, have you heard from the Underground yet?" asked Colonel Hogan as he tried to break the tension between the two groups.

"Yes, Colonel. They haven't seen anything suspicious, but they will keep looking. Should I radio them again?"

"No." he said to Kinch. "I think it is time to start trusting each other, don't you think, Mr. Antero? We can't help you when we don't know what we are facing. So, tell me what is so special about you and your family?" asked the colonel.

"You are right, we have to trust each other to accomplish the rescue of my family," said Leander in a calm voice. "I need your word and that of your men, that what I will tell you will not leave this tunnel." He didn't feel comfortable at all that he had to tell someone of his nature. Shape shifters kept themselves hidden for a reason.

"Your secret is save with me, I give you my word." said Colonel Hogan. His team members expressed similar oaths.

"Me, my men and my children are shape shifters." said Leander in a matter-of-fact tone.

Colonel Hogan and his men looked at each other and burst out laughing.


End file.
